Nine-man Lymington snatch late win with last-gasp penalty

Sydenhams Premier: Lymington Town FC 2-1 Portland United

LYMINGTON Town FC managed to defy the odds by beating Portland United in the final minutes of the game with only nine men on the field.

The hosts were down to 10 men after 15 minutes when Luke Churchill was sent off for an alleged dangerous foul. However, despite being a man down, Lymington took the lead on 42 minutes when Dom Falco turned in a scrambled effort.

Portland were level eight minutes into the second half and after losing Rian Drake due to injury, Lymington brought on Micky Finch. With their backs firmly against the wall, things went bad to worse for Lymington as manager Paul Masters was sent off from the dugout for dissent and Ronan Moore received a 10-minute sin-bin with eight minutes to play.

But their fortunes changed dramatically when they were awarded a penalty with five minutes remaining. Substitute Sam House stepped up and fired home to snatch a late victory for nine-man Town.

The win puts Lymington third in the Sydenhams Premier with 45 points from 23 games. Town are 11 points behind league-leaders Amesbury Town but the Forest side have two games in hand. They face local rivals Brockenhurst on Saturday at the Sports Ground followed by a home Southampton Senior Cup tie against Bush Hill on Tuesday.

Lymington Town: Casey, Carkeet, Churchill, Ritchie, Moore, Elsom, Hurst, Stephenson, Falco, Zintany, Drake. Subs: House, Yates, Finch.